I didn’t have a chance to react when Rianne screamed almost as loudly as my banshee. “I will fucking chisel out your fangs and burn you alive. I won’t fail next time.”
“There won’t be a next time,” Sam said before he picked her up and flung her.
Her body slammed into the brick building, then crumpled to the ground.
In a flash, he was at my side. “Baby doll.” Slowly, his dimples emerged, giving him more of a boyish look than one of an inhuman creature with fangs.
His husky voice snapped me out of my haze, and as I peered around him to check on Rianne, rapid gunfire peppered the air in the distance. A second later, a loud boom rocked the ground.
Sam covered my body with his, tucking me into him, holding me tightly. He smelled like pine and wood, as if he’d been the one to trek through the forest for days on end. Regardless, his scent was calming, his strong arms protective.
After holding me for a long minute in his embrace, he said, “We need to find a way out. Tripp said to go east.” He untangled his arms from around me, scanning the property.
Tons of dust floated in the air, making it difficult to see.
“Sam!” a familiar male voice shouted before Steven Mason emerged through the cloud of dust.
Relief was making my limbs weak. I wouldn’t be surprised if I slept for days.
We followed Steven through the dust, then through a gaping hole in the cement wall.
“Rebekah will take you to the rendezvous point,” Steven said to Sam.
Sam stopped Steven as he started to return inside. “Where are you going?”
His lips thinned. “Olivia and Dane are missing. Go, son. That’s an order.”
Sam hesitated until Rebekah ran up out of the shadows and said, “We don’t have much time.”
Sirens trilled in the distance.
“Pops, we need Carly,” Sam said just as Steven climbed through the hole in the wall.
“I’ll do my best, son,” Steven returned over his shoulder.
Then Sam and I followed Rebekah into the forest.
For fuck’s sake. Really? I couldn’t handle another jaunt through the woods. But my panic was short-lived when I spotted an all-terrain vehicle.
Once Sam and I climbed in the back of the four-seater, I snuggled into him.
He kissed my head. “Thank you.”
I lifted my gaze to his. “For what? I should be thanking you.”
“For believing I could fight through the chip. It was fucking difficult as hell. At first, I was blinded by the pain, darkness, and confusion. Not to mention, I was drawn to the blood. But the more you talked, the more I began to register the familiarity. But it wasn’t your voice or scent. If you hadn’t touched me…” He gulped in air and squeezed me to him, his heartbeat off the charts. “The electrical charge between us is what I think short-circuited the chip.”
“All that matters,” I said, “is that it worked.”
Rebekah expertly maneuvered the ATV between trees and over dead wood and branches. No doubt she’d been in a similar situation before. After all, she was military.
Sam tipped up my chin. “I would’ve died if I lost you.” He bowed his head slightly and brushed his lips over mine. “I fucking love you, baby doll.”
“I love you, vampire. But, Sam…” How did I tell him I had a weak heart or that I might not be able to carry our babies or that fatal complications could happen? Or that I was injected with Carly’s crazy juice?
“Shh,” he said. “We can talk about everything after you rest. But first, you need my blood.”
My belly perked up with that fluttering sensation as if the babies heard him. I needed more than a mouthful. Maybe then my heart would strengthen.
